This half-length figure of a saint comes from a large polyptych (multi-panelled altarpiece) which Crivelli painted in 1476 for the high altar of the church of San Domenico, in Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche. This is Saint Stephen, Christianity’s first martyr.
Potato-like rocks – representing those with which he was stoned to death – balance precariously on his head and shoulders. He holds his cactus-like martyr’s palm in one hand and a bound book, representing the Gospels, in the other. For the friars of the Dominican Order who commissioned the altarpiece, Stephen was an example of preaching and teaching the faith to non-believers.
Crivelli was skilled at exploiting the optical effects of the different gold surfaces, which must have shone and flickered in the candle-light of a medieval church, with the highly burnished gold of his halo acting as a spotlight on the saint’s face.
This half-length figure of a saint comes from a large polyptych which Crivelli painted in 1476 for the high altar of the church of San Domenico, in Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche. This is Saint Stephen, Christianity’s first martyr.
Potato-like rocks – representing those with which he was stoned to death – balance precariously on his head and shoulders. He holds his cactus-like martyr’s palm in one hand, and a bound book, representing the Gospels, in the other. Crivelli has rotated the book so that we see its gilded fore-edges and the clasp holding it shut, while its white-covered binding and gilded studs are dramatically foreshortened. Stephen’s smooth and youthful features contrast strongly with the powerful face of Saint Thomas now next to him.
According to his legend, Stephen was a Greek Jew who converted early to Christianity. He was such an effective preacher that the Roman authorities became concerned, and put him on trial for blasphemy. At his trial he accused the Jews of murdering Christ, and was dragged into the streets of Jerusalem and stoned to death.
Stephen was a deacon of the early Church, and so was always shown dressed as a deacon, albeit a fifteenth-century Italian one. He wears a dalmatic (an ankle length, sleeved, outer garment made from silk) with wide strips of embroidery around the cuffs and two large square panels – orphreys – back and front just below the neck. The luscious pink sleeves are lined with green, picking up on the colours of the Virgin’s robe in the centre panel. On either side of the orphrey are two large tassels made of raised pastiglia.
For the Dominicans who commissioned the altarpiece, Stephen was an example of preaching and teaching the faith: alone of the saints in the upper tier, he gazes outwards, summoning the friars in the choir stalls to follow his example. Stephen had a special significance in the Italian Marche, as one of the rocks with which he was stoned was venerated as a relic in the cathedral of Ancona.
Artist | Carlo Crivelli |
---|---|
Artist dates | about 1430/5 - about 1494 |
Full title | Saint Stephen |
Group | The Demidoff Altarpiece |
Date made | 1476 |
Medium and support | Tempera on poplar |
Dimensions | 61 x 40 cm |
Acquisition credit | Bought, 1868 |
Inventory number | NG788.8 |
Location in Gallery | Room 57 |
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The Demidoff Altarpiece
Crivelli painted two altarpieces for the small church of San Domenico, in the town of Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche. Their history is complex and intertwined. A large, double-tiered polyptych (a multi-panelled altarpiece) sat on the high altar, while a smaller altarpiece was in a side chapel.
In the nineteenth century parts of both altarpieces were sold to a Russian prince, Anatole Demidoff, who mounted them in a grand frame to make a three-tiered altarpiece for the chapel of his villa in Florence. The whole complex is now known as the Demidoff Altarpiece.
The National Gallery bought the Demidoff Altarpiece in 1868, and in 1961 the panels from the smaller polyptych were removed. They are now displayed separately.
Crivelli painted two altarpieces for the small church of San Domenico, in Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche. Their history is complex and intertwined. A large, two-tiered polyptych was displayed on the high altar, while a smaller altarpiece was in a side chapel.
The polyptych was still standing on the high altar in 1724, but was later dismantled. In the nineteenth century parts of both were sold to a Russian aristocrat, Prince Anatole Demidoff. He mounted them in a grand frame to make a three-tiered altarpiece for the chapel of his villa in Florence. The whole complex is known after him as the Demidoff Altarpiece.
The National Gallery bought the Demidoff Altarpiece in 1868. In 1961 the four saints in the upper tier – originally painted for the small altarpiece in San Domenico – were removed from the main altarpiece. They are now shown separately (Saint Jerome, Saint Michael, Saint Lucy, Saint Peter Martyr).
Exactly how the remaining nine panels were originally arranged is unclear. We know that the Virgin and Child were in the centre, with full-length saints on either side and half-length figures in the upper tier – although not necessarily in their current order. The altarpiece had a predella, now lost, and was topped by a painting of the Lamentation over the Dead Christ, now in New York.
San Domenico was the main church in Ascoli of the Dominican Order. The Dominicans, often known as the ‘Blackfriars’ in England, were one of the two great mendicant or preaching orders founded in the Middle Ages to provide educated preachers in towns and cities. Mendicant comes from the Latin word mendicare – ‘to beg’. Men who joined the mendicant orders took vows of poverty and travelled from place to place, preaching and living on what was given by their listeners. There were few Dominican houses in the Marche, as it was a mountainous, sparsely populated region, and the priory and church of San Domenico fell into decline in the fourteenth century. It was revived by the Blessed Constanzo di Meo di Servolo (d. 1481), who is shown in the altarpiece as Saint Dominic. He restored the priory and commissioned the great altarpiece, raising money from the citizens of Ascoli to pay for it.
In medieval Dominican churches the high altar was usually on a raised dais at the east end of the church. It was separated from the public west end by a tramezzo screen, known as a rood screen in England, so only the friars themselves could get close to the altarpiece. They would have gazed at it for many hours each day while sitting in the choir stalls for the performance of the liturgy, and the choice of saints closely reflects their concerns: preaching, teaching, defeating heresy and the salvation of souls. The Virgin in the central panel was the special protector of the Order. Saint Peter on her right stands for the papacy, which the Dominicans faithfully supported. Saint John the Baptist at the far left represented the idea that salvation could only be achieved by admission to the Church through baptism. On the Virgin’s right are Saint Catherine, whom the friars admired for her defence of the Christian faith against non-believers, and Saint Dominic, the founder of the Order.
In the top row we see Saint Francis, founder of the Franciscan order of preachers. Next to him is Saint Andrew, the first apostle, seen as a role model for preaching to ordinary people. Facing these two saints are Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr, who like Catherine debated with unbelievers, and finally the great Dominican theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas. The saints all look quite different, ranging from fierce apostles to ecstatic friars and elegant princesses.
In all of them, Crivelli has used techniques such as gilding, punching and incising to make his paintings seem three dimensional and real. He emphasises certain objects, such as crowns and haloes, by building them up with pastiglia so they stand proud of the painted surface, and unites the panels by tooling a damask pattern, like that of a rich fabric, into the burnished gold backgrounds. These shapes and patterns must have shone and flickered in the candlelit nave of San Domenico.